Pandemic inflicts historic US job losses, as states struggle to reopen

The coronavirus pandemic triggered the steepest monthly loss of US jobs since the Great Depression, government data showed on Friday, while Michigan and California prepared to put people back to work after a manufacturing shutdown.

Labor Department data for April showed a rise in US unemployment to 14.7% - up from 3.5% in February - demonstrating the speed of the US economic collapse after stay-at-home policies were imposed in much of the country to curb the pathogen’s spread.

Worse economic news may yet come. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the unemployment rate is likely to move up to around 20% this month.

The economic devastation has put a sense of urgency into efforts by US states to get their economies moving again, even though infection rates and deaths are still climbing in some parts of the country.

At least 40 of the 50 US states are taking steps to lift restrictions that had affected all but essential businesses.

Two manufacturing powerhouses, Michigan and California, outlined plans on Thursday to allow their industrial companies to begin reopening over the next few days.

Public health experts said reopening prematurely risks fueling fresh outbreaks. They also have raised concerns that a state-by-state hodgepodge of differing policies confuses the public and undermines social distancing efforts.

“If we make a mistake and react too quickly, the situation is only going to get worse,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference. “We have people who are dying.”

The virus has killed nearly 76,000 Americans with more than 1.26 million confirmed cases, according to a Reuters tally.

An astounding 20.5 million US jobs were lost in April - the steepest loss since the Great Depression some 90 years ago - and the jobless rate broke the post-World War Two record of 10.8% in November 1982, the government said.

Just as the pathogen itself has hit black and Hispanic Americans particularly hard - they are overrepresented in the US death toll relative to their population size - minorities also have suffered greater job losses during the crisis.

The April unemployment rate was 14.2% for white Americans, but the rate reached 16.7% among African Americans and 18.9% among Hispanic Americans, the data showed.

Adding to the pain, millions of Americans who have lost their jobs have been unable to register for unemployment benefits. A survey released last week by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that up to 13.9 million people have been shut out of the unemployment benefits system.